What a great book! The title "Route 66 Souvenirs" says it all. Everytime I hit Route 66, I end up buying a ton of souvenirs. I actually constructed the models in the book, and placed a bunch of them in a curio cabinet, along with several real-life souvenirs that I had bought along Route 66. Doing this was incredibly great "therapy" til I can get back on the old Mother Road again!

Š Alan Rose's new book is art in itself. Somehow, the author has enhanced the innovative precision of his past paper-building books with a humorous perspective and the sense that -- like Buzz and Todd -- one's along on a colorful Route 66 adventure with an old pal. Got two copies: one for the buildings and one for the book.

I highly reccommend this literary "nuggest" for anyone who enjoys the West,the Open Road,and excellent writing.It will be my constant companion on all of my future trips.

I am so pleased I came upon this fine book! It is a wonderful read and a must have for anyone interested in trekking the great american West. Bravo! Bravo!

I am a landscape photograper, like Mr. Varjabedian is, but not as good. His photographs are some of the best I have ever seen in my entire life, even better than Ansel Adams. This book is about "Los Hermanos Penitentes," or the Penitent Brothers, a Catholic lay brotherhood that was founded because of a lack of preists in New Mexico. The Brother's activities have always been very secret, but have been aggrandized by the early white settlers in the region. Mr. Wallis' text illuminates and fully explains this unusual brotherhood. I highly, highly reccomend this book to anyone interested in the history of New Mexico or, anyone who appreciates fine black and white photographs.

THIS IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE BEST BOOK I HAVE READ ABOUT NEW MEXICO. IT SHOULD BE ON EVERYONE'S 'MUST READ' LIST. A WOINDERFUL GIFT BOOK.

Finally someone has truly captured the flavor and essence of the Sooner State! I have been waiting for a book like this one for a very long time. The combination of poignant text and stunning photographs is a one-two punch that really delivers. Thanks so much for giving us this wonderful book!

I fell in love with the story of the Duke and Duchess after reading the love letters in this book. The touching and informative letters help the reader to understand the true love between these two lovers and the sacrifice Edward made in order to have his one true love. I don't know any other person who could do that. Certainly not our current Prince of Wales. This book shows that true love is still a powerful thing. Read it if you love history at all. It is more than just love letters. It is also a very good account of the way life was during the Depression.

If you ever wanted to make a real journey to a place that's both real and imagined, a place in your heart as much as in your geography, and if that place happens to be Route 66, take this book.

Michael Wallis is the unofficial poet laureate of 66 and this book reflects exactly what the Mother Road meant to America and can mean to you. He's covered every inch of it, and he knows where it leads.

MIchael and Suzanne have done the best job of capturing why so many people are still fascinated by a ribbon of concrete that didn't even cross the entire continent. As he so eloquently states, it's not the road, its the people along the road. This is a must read, not just for all Mother Road fans, but for anyone who is interested in a genuine slice of Americana.

I read Wallis' original book some years ago and now he has offered us an update. It is now 75 years since the highway numbering system went into effect, and more than ten years since the original book came out. What we get is an extra chapter in the back outlining some of the many changes that have occured in the past decade. Some old friends of the road have passed away; and a whole lot of new ones added. One gripe. We don't hear how Angel and Juan in Seligman are doing these days. Experienced 66 hands will know who I mean--the rest of you, make sure you find out about those two fine gentlemen. This, new, book will help you on your way. Highly recommended.

One terrific book -- a majestic recreation of the figures that helped define the old west and western entertainment.

Readers lacking a sense of irony may be dismayed to discover that the Real Wild West was only loosely hitched to reality. Spurred by the imaginations of Charles Miller and his three sons, our perception of what is the west sports the distinct brand of the 101. Take heart, though, because on the Miller Brothers' 101, the west was most certainly wild.

Possibly outlaws and certainly mavericks, the Millers rounded up some legendary talent to work their ranch and perform in their touring shows. The 101 herd of entertainers included Geronimo, Will Rogers, champion cowgirl Lucille Mulhall, Annie Oakley rival Princess Wenona, and such film legends as Tom Mix, Buck Jones, Ken Maynard, Yakima Canutt and Hoot Gibson. Black cowboy, Bill Pickett, famed for inventing the rodeo event steer wrestling spent a long career at the 101, and Buffalo Bill Cody spent his final year with the outfit.

While tooling a longstanding image of the west with their Wild West productions, the Millers also saddled up to motion pictures, oil production and an outstanding crop and livestock operation. Their story is a rodeo itself, made all the more interesting by the hints that white hats did not cover the heads of all of the 101 cowboys and cowgirls.

When the last little doggie was wrangled on the 101, the Miller Brothers' legacy did not ride off into the sunset, but continues to stampede through the dreams of would-be cowpokes everywhere. I'm not a regular patron of movie theatres, but I cannot wait until this saga makes it to the big screen!

This book was a welcome source of information on the Carson & Miller families whose genealogy I have been researching. Michael Wallace did an excellent job of getting his historical facts straight and offered some additional resources for my search for family history.

The easy style presented an engrossing story of a family moving through history from the 1850's to the 1930's and adjusting (not always easily) to the changing moores of society.

My father was a cousin of the Miller Bros. and told us children stories of his childhood in Oklahoma and attending the shows at the 101. My sister & I recently visited the old 101 ranch site and were sad to see that little is left. The Miller house in Winfield, Kansas is still standing in beautiful condition and is a private residence.

Michael Wallace is an excellent storyteller. The book gave life to my genealogy and made me feel in touch with the characters and the times. Anyone with an interest in western history would enjoy this story of a dynamic family who helped shape our images of the old west.

I found it very hard to close this book! I was riveted to Chief Mankiller's every word and finished her book still wanting more. Her knowledge of Cherokee history and legend is vast and taught me many things I never knew. Also, her strength and enduring spirit is inspiring to me as a Cherokee. She succeeded, through her own life story, in instilling a new sense of pride in me that has made me become more involved in keeping native american culture alive and well. After reading her book I truly felt proud to be Cherokee. She should be an inspiration to us all. Highly recommended reading!

I spent a whole weekend not just reading but absorbing this work of Wilma Mainkiller.On Sunday I could only describe feeling wonderfully enriched by the experience both personally, as a Euro- and Native American person and also as an American. All of us have been denied major parts of our comon American history with the repression of Native American History. The mid section of the book is purely historical, and so much of it was news to me! (I thought that I knew Native history and yet it would prove that I had alot to learn that weekend.) The interection of Cherokee and African American history is fascinating ! It is a reoccuring theme. What history books cover that? The focus is usually Euro-American to Native American, or Euro-American to African-American. At a personal level the experience was tremendous. Putting personal information together with her history, I learned that I have a matrilineal clan affliation (bird). I feel that as the result of her work I myself ,my family, and descendents have connected with something that would have otherwise been lost. Generations ago, two orphaned Cherokee boys were adopted by a white family in Georgia. One later went "white' the other "red". This is not just my personal background. This is a metaphor for so much of American history. Truely, Cherokee culture is the best kept secret in America today, as the author writes. It is our common cultural heritage, like jazz, like democracy. I relish reading other works by this author ! Doris Hale

First of all, I would encourage anyone who is interested in the history and culture of the Cherokees to read this book. The average American is taught very little about the native peoples who inhabited this land before the white men took over. The first reviewer, gsibbery from Baton Rouge, LA, shows the mentality of most whites today. The native Americans have been trying to share their views and feelings for years but most people do not care to listen, and in general, do not care about the circumstances these people have had to endure. I commend Mrs. Wilma Mankiller for the effort and time she spent in writing this book and I thoroughly enjoyed it and have shared it with others. I think we all need to try to see things from another's perspective sometimes. It was a great book!!

The first major biography of Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd is a sweeping "life and times" effort, a well-researched opus that concentrates as much on early 1900's-Depression era America as on a straight biography of Floyd. It's too bad because Floyd himself deserved a more detailed treatment, as well as a more objective one. Much of the information on Floyd came from family and friends and, while this is interesting and informative, one gets the distinct impression that Wallis got too close to his subject, blinded perhaps by the folkloric image of Floyd as a Southwestern Depression Robin Hood. This is somewhat understandable. Floyd was falsely accused in his own day of many atrocious crimes, such as the "Young brothers' massacre," but the fact remains that he was a ruthless killer as well as a bank robber and that a preponderance of evidence exists suggesting Floyd's guilt in the Kansas City Union Station massacre. Wallis ignores this evidence, accessible in thousands of pages of FBI files he claims to have read, and instead builds straws for Floyd's innocence in this crime. Such as relying on the testimony of "Blackie" Audett, a minor bank burglar of the period and notorious liar, who claimed to have witnessed the massacre but whose story is shot full of holes. Audett was in prison at the time of the shooting and one of the men he named as an "actual" killer had been murdered over two years earlier. This doesn't stop Wallis in his determination to vindicate his Robin Hood idol. In all, it's a nice professional work--a thick book with some nice photos, a bibliography and an index. It could have been much better, as evidenced by the more recent The Life and Death of Pretty Boy Floyd by Jeffery King.

This is without question the best biography I have come across in many years. I strongly suggest anyone who has even an inkling of interest in modern American history make it a point to get this book and read it. They will not be disapponited.

I became interested in "Pretty Boy Floyd" when I found out his mother was distantly related to my family and I was researching my family. He was raised 25 miles from where I live until his family moved to Oklahoma. There was mention of the town in the book and some of the mischief he got in to. The house they lived in still stands. I was able to use some of the information from the book to go in my family tree. The book was very well written and seemed to be accurate in the account given of his life. I felt like I had known him from the reading of this book and feel he was unjustly killed at the end. His mother was treated unfairly about the way the funeral took care of his body. The pictures in the book of his family in the younger days were very good pictures. I didn't especially care for the ones at the funeral home where he was more or less put on display. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the history and hardships that occurred during the early part of the century.I am sure I will read this book again. It was hard to put down when I read it the first time.